Jane Austen and Shakespeare Go for the “Twilight” Audience

On one side, we have the best-selling “Twilight” books–which are instantly recognizable for their striking book jackets, designed by Gail Doobinin, placing white and blood-red images against black backgrounds.

On the other side, we have the new HarperTeen editions of “Wuthering Heights,” “Pride & Prejudice,” and “Romeo & Juliet,” which also place white and blood-red images against black backgrounds.

Even the type is similar–the “g” on the “Twilight” jacket has a twirling bottom, and so does the “J” on the “Romeo & Juliet” cover. And the l’s on both covers have knife-like shapes. And all the books in the HarperTeen series, like book two of the “Twilight” franchise, “New Moon,” feature flowers on the cover.

Coincidence?

Or is HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins, trying to take a bite out of Little, Brown’s huge “Twilight” audience?

HarperCollins, which, like the Wall Street Journal, is owned by News Corp., said via email in response to questions about possible similarities between the HarperTeen series covers and the “Twilight” jackets that “The cover art is stock photography.”

Stephenie Meyer’s publicist at Little, Brown declined to comment.

The recently-published HarperTeen editions of classics also include quizzes and other extras at the end of each book.

The main text of each book remains unchanged, said the publisher. HarperTeen declined to provide sales figures for the series.

For “Pride & Prejudice,” a back-of-the-book quiz asks “Which ‘Pride & Predjudice’ Girl Are You?” If, for example, you answer the test with mostly C’s, “You are most like Jane! You’re beautiful and sweet, and all of your friends and family adore you. But be careful about being too forgiving with your friends. You might get taken in by someone dishonest…Don’t forget to be practical!”

Little, Brown

A now-classic book cover designed by Gail Doobinin.

For “Romeo & Juliet,” there’s a test asking “What would you do in the name of love? Find out how you measure up against Shakespeare’s timeless lovers!”

Another feature poses the question ”What if Romeo and Juliet lived now and were on Facebook?”

In the book, a sample profile for “Romeo M.” lists his relationship status as “Engaged to Juliet C.,” his political views as “liberal,” and his favorite music as “Radiohead, ‘West Side Story’ soundtrack, ‘Moulin Rouge!’ soundtrack, ‘Kissing You’ by Des’ree, Death Cab for Cutie.”

De’ree is a kind of inside joke–the song “Kissing You” was the theme song to the 1996 movie version of “Romeo + Juliet” starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Juliet C., in her profile, lists one of her favorite movies as–yup–”Twilight.”